Pensacola will make its case for Escambia County to support the demolition of Baptist Hospital at the June 5 County Commission meeting.
Escambia County commissioners discussed the issue at the request of Commissioner Lumon May during their May 15 meeting.
Tension has been rising between the two governments over the issue. The city is looking to move forward with a contract to tear down the old hospital, but it is counting on a $2 million pledge from Escambia County.
The county pledged the $2 million as part of an effort to get the Florida Legislature to back $7 million to the project in 2024, but in March, commissioners questioned that commitment after they learned it wasn’t legal to use local option sales tax money on the project.
May brought up the discussion as an add-on item when he learned it wasn’t already on the agenda. Commission Chairman Mike Kohler has questioned the need for the county to financially back the project when it’s located inside the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. Kohler said the city stands to collect 75% of the property tax revenue increases on both the city and county portions of property tax because it’s in the CRA district.
The Baptist Hospital redevelopment project is a major project that most local officials agree will shape the future of the west side of the city for decades to come. While only the demolition is on the table now, a full redevelopment could take a decade to complete and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Exactly how the city plans to fund that remains unknown, but Reeves pointed out the city’s financial commitment is far from over with the demolition project.
“The blood, sweat and tears that the city is going to be putting into this project only is beginning,” Reeves said. “Streets need to be put in. Lights need to be put in. The idea that this is the last $1 or $2 or $3 million, and somehow the obligation is complete, isn’t the case.”
Columbia Parc in New Orleans, which Reeves has pointed to as an example of what the old Baptist Hospital could become, cost more than $310 million and took nearly 10 years to complete.
Kohler poised the question of why the city wasn’t contributing more CRA funds directly to Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves during the May 15 meeting.
Part of the city’s $16 million budget for the demolition includes approximately $1 million from the city CRA. Reeves said he could provide the full breakdown of funds for the city’s Westside CRA at the June 5 meeting.
Kohler said he was disappointed the county wasn’t consulted in the process of selecting a demolition firm.
The city initially chose a firm that bid $14.4 million, but after a bid protest is likely going to go with a $13.5 million bid from a different firm. However, city officials said even with that bid, $16.5 million will be needed to complete the project because of other costs and contracts involved in the project.
The city went with a higher bid because two of the firms with smaller bids were proposing to crush all of the concrete debris on site and have that crushed concrete spread back over the property.
“I had our staff go to look at the bids that you guys put there,” Kohler said. “I had our purchasing department go through and line item, and I didn’t tell them what to vote for or tell us what to do, Mayor. And we’re at a different — our staff’s at a different opinion on what we think you should have accepted. OK, are you locked into the current bid now? Is there any option to take in one of the other two lower bids?”
Reeves responded that he has no issue with anyone reviewing the city’s decisions, but he also questioned why the county had not reached out to the city about the project,. The County Commission approved county staff to work with the city in 2024 on the project when it pledged the $2 million.
“All I respectfully request is to allow our staff to tell you about all the hard work we put in for a year since this conversation (began) or since you guys approved your staff to come work with us,” Reeves said. “And even though that didn’t really happen, that doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t have been or aren’t willing in the future to be open-minded about any conversation that you guys want to have.”
May said he supports the city’s redevelopment efforts for Baptist Hospital, but also said his commitment to the project isn’t demolition but housing.
“I did not commit to demolition,” May said. “That’s not my commitment. My commitment was to housing, health and food in a district. However, that looks. That was a commitment that we’ve made.”
May pointed to a 2015 joint county-city study of the area that envisioned a revitalized neighborhood around Baptist Hospital as an example and said he wants to ensure those are included in whatever the future plans are at the site.
“I’m not interested in, necessarily, more studies,” May said. “I think the people have truly, truly spoken through … the neighborhood groups, the community groups. The constituents that I represent don’t want to hear that (there’s more studies). They want to see something done, and I want to figure out a way in which we can do that.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia County will hear Pensacola’s case to fund Baptist Hospital demolition
Reporting by Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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